


Fever Dream

by AllThingsGeeky



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Sick Tony Stark, Sickfic, Slight mention of sexy times but nothing graphic, Vomit, blood mention tw, emeto, fluff i guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:06:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27955862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllThingsGeeky/pseuds/AllThingsGeeky
Summary: It’s up to Pepper to make sure her fiancé doesn’t engage in activities detrimental to his health.A short sickfic I wrote in an hour instead of paying attention to my lecture
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 7
Kudos: 48





	Fever Dream

**Author's Note:**

> I’ll be back to proofread this later

Another long day in a series of long days the pair had been experiencing recently, Pepper and Tony were finally ready to clamber into bed. Surprisingly for the first time in- well,  _ ever _ Tony hadn’t fought the woman about coming up to their room before eleven o’clock. Usually on work nights the man disappeared after dinner and reappeared at god only knows what hour of the morning to join her. The only time he’d change that routine was when Peter was there, but even then he’d only return briefly to see the teen went to bed at a suitable time before he snaked off again. 

And though it was a Thursday, Tony had graced Pepper with his presence, actually joining her in their room before the clock struck half ten. Come to think of it he’d been in the living room when she came upstairs herself, watching a movie with Steve. 

So she had assumed the man’s change in routine meant he was up for some..unscheduled activities. When he sat on the edge of the bed and began taking off his shoes, Pepper moved behind him and loosened his tie. She slipped her hands over his shoulders and down his chest, moving to kiss his neck, however Tony didn’t move. He didn’t move away from her, but he didn’t lean in as he usually would. Instead he cleared his throat softly and reached up to grasp one of her hands. Lacing his fingers between hers Tony sighed. 

“Hmm, sorry baby.” He said quietly, a small guilty smile befalling his face as he pecked her on the cheek. “I’m just real tired.”

Pepper smiled back as she sat back on her heels. Tony let go of her hand in favour of continuing to change and Pepper once again moved to help him undo his shirt; only now all seductive undertones were gone. She wasn’t helping him with any sort of ulterior motive, though she felt comfortable enough to tease him a little. “You got a headache?”

“You’re so funny.” Tony smirked back at her as he allowed her to slip his shirt off his shoulders. No sooner than his pants were off he shrugged on an old t-shirt and promptly laid down; kissing her on the cheek and tackling her into the bed with him, hugging her close so she couldn’t move. Not that Pepper was complaining at all, she was just slightly confused. 

She’d seen Tony dog tired plenty of times and that had certainly never slowed him down before. Though she had zero issue with his rejection, she wanted to make sure there wasn’t another underlying cause. They hadn’t seen much of each other that week, what with their busy work schedules, so she wanted to ensure there wasn’t any animosity she was missing. Though by the way Tony was still cuddling her she figured he wasn’t upset with her. Still, a little prying wouldn’t hurt, so long as everyone was still comfortable; and so long as Tony knew it was okay to say no without making an excuse. “Not like you not to be in the mood.”

“Trust me, I’m in the mood, but my eyes aren’t cooperating.” Tony mumbled, barely opening his mouth as he spoke. He let his head fall face first into the pillow with a contented sigh, his eyes heavy lidded, like they were mere seconds from closing. “As much as I’d love to gaze upon your beauty, they’re refusing to stay open.” 

Pepper smiled at his dopey expression, gently brushing a thumb against his stubbled cheek. The action only seemed to lull him further as he made a small low noise at the back of his throat before fully closing his eyes. Though she knew he was still awake Pepper found herself whispering. “Did you not sleep well last night, love?”

“I never sleep well.” Tony chuckled, his eyes fluttering open again briefly. Where Pepper laid beside him cuddling close she felt his chest rumble against hers as he spoke. She hadn’t been that tired when they first went to bed, but Tony was warm and still smelled faintly of aftershave and toothpaste. It was a rather intoxicating combination. “And you know I never sleep well when you’re not here.”

Pepper smiled softly. She knew he was referring to their schedules having them sleeping alone the past few nights. As he said, Tony never slept well anyway, but at least when she was there he’d manage to get in a few solid hours. She wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t slept for two days, no wonder he was so tired. “Mm, well I’m here now.”

“Yes you are. And I promise to make it up to you in the morning.” Tony grumbled, pulling Pepper even closer and returning the kiss she’d placed on his neck earlier. 

Though she suspected he was compensating for turning her down earlier she still felt it necessary to mention they wouldn’t have time for any of that tomorrow. She giggled when his beard tickled her neck and she playfully shoved him away. “You have a meeting.”

“Guess we’ll have to get up early, huh?” He smirked, kissing her again, though this one was much more gentle.

The pair climbed under the sheet as opposed to laying on top of it and settled down to sleep. Pepper pressed herself against Tony’s back, acting as the big spoon; they often switched sides throughout the night, but it wasn’t often they fell asleep like that. Well, Pepper hadn’t fallen asleep yet, but when she lifted her head to ask Tony about his plans for lunch the next day she realised he was already fast asleep.

She chuckled at first, thinking he was pretending, before she realised he truly had fallen asleep already. That was more than a little out of character for him. They usually stayed up talking for a while and Tony would fidget for a further hour after she fell asleep herself. Then he’d sleep fitfully for a few hours of broken sleep. But he was out like a light, drool already pooling on his pillow. Wow, he must’ve been sleeping deeply as she’d never seen the man drool before in five years of sleeping together. It was gross but admittedly kind of cute. 

However when she woke up being shoved across the bed half an hour later, she thought the man was a lot less cute. 

She’d stirred awake when felt him pull away from her but at first figured he was getting up to use the bathroom. That was until she felt the blankets being pooled on top of her as he rolled away, pushing her from laying on her side onto her stomach. 

She sighed and shoved the blankets off, piling them between them. She scowled in the darkness, angry at the rude awakening- though the anger quickly dissipated in favour of slipping back into unconsciousness. Only a few minutes later, once she was  _ just _ about to doze off again, Tony did it again. He shoved the sheets away this time accompanied by a disgruntled noise as he fought with the blankets still wrapped around his calf. 

“Mnngh. Ge’ off.” He grumbled flailing back and forth before finally getting his leg free and flopping onto his back; the whole while leaving poor Pepper feeling like she was on a ship in the middle of a storm. 

She sighed loudly and rolled over, shaking the man awake. Though she was pretty sure he wasn’t having a nightmare by his tone of voice, she wanted to make sure. She also wanted to make double sure he wouldn’t, you know, try and suffocate her with the sheets again. She was used to the man’s fitful sleeping habits but jesus. “Hey.”

“Mm.” Despite all of his movement only seconds earlier, Tony barely budged as Pepper shook his shoulder. 

“Hey, Asshole.” She sighed when the man tried to roll away from her. “This is a California king, you think you could not shove all the sheets on me?”

“What?” Tony groaned. He opened his eyes, just barely, and turned to see what all the fuss was about. Though he didn’t seem to mirror Pepper’s concerns.“Oh.”

And just like that, the notorious insomniac rolled over and went back to sleep. Instantly. Once again Pepper thought it was weird that he could do so so quickly but didn’t think too much of it. She was exhausted herself and still miffed about her rude awakening so she was more worried about getting back to sleep as soon as possible. 

But now she was awake. Sighing, to herself this time, she decided to get up and get a glass of water. For some reason despite frigid November air outside her soon to be husband insisted on having air con on 24/7. The circulated air had made her throat dry, so she quietly crept to the kitchen so as not to wake Tony up to go and hydrate herself. When she got back Tony and the blanket must have gotten into another argument, as the latter had been completely kicked off the bed. She rolled her eyes remade the bed and climbed back in. 

The third time felt like she hadn’t even had the chance to close her eyes. Though a patient woman by nature (god knows she had to be) she was starting to get grumpy now. Even though it felt like her head had barely touched the pillow she rolled over to see the clock clock read three o’ two. Tony in a half asleep daze had reached up to put the air con built into the base of their headboard on his side- up to full fucking blast. Pepper had woken to the sound of her own teeth chattering, absolutely freezing. 

“Ugh, Tony seriously?” She snapped as she sat up. Somehow despite the now blistering cold Tony had still shoved the blankets down to the bottom of the bed, leaving Pepper exposed too. Tony sat up with a start when she spoke, and for a second she felt guilty for interrupting his sleep, that was until he turned to snap right back at her. 

“What? You didn’t want the blankets on you, now you do?” He hissed, scowling back at her in the semi darkness. Pepper stayed silent, unnervingly silent, which Tony knew was her way of saying ‘you wanna try that again?’ He sighed quietly and rolled over fully to face her, his expression softening. “Sorry I’m just hot. Aren’t you?”

“No, I'm not. Any colder in here and we’re gonna freeze for 80 years.” Pepper replied, eyeing him oddly. As weird as Tony was about keeping the room cold, even he surely couldn’t claim it was hot in there. “Are you serious? You’re not even wearing pants.” 

Tony grumbled something about her never having an issue with that before but did little else to defend himself. Instead he turned the air on down slightly and retrieved the blanket. He covered Pepper up before drawing the sheets around him too, only bringing them up to his waist. Even then he kept a leg on top of the comforter and kept his face careening up towards the vent. 

They both fell back to sleep, Pepper shivering initially but she soon warmed up as she creeped closer to Tony. They ended up cuddling again, much as they had when they initially fell asleep. As a result Pepper woke up in a much better mood. She woke up in a tranquil state, rather than being rudely awoken by Tony fidgeting or an alarm clock blaring. Instead she was allowed to wake up naturally after a few hours of well needed solid sleep. 

When she opened her eyes to the back of Tony’s head she blinked. Hmm. He was still sleeping soundly. That was odd, even more odd than the man going to bed at the same time as her. He was almost always up before her, if he went to bed before four in the morning that was. He’d actually slept before her and was asleep after her? A Christmas miricle. 

Rather than be bothered by it Pepper embraced it, figuring he must have really needed the sleep. It wasn’t often she got to see him sleep so peacefully so she took it in for a moment, just watching the man’s chest rise and fall rhythmically, his face the picture of calm. It was nice. Peeling herself away she realised despite the air con Tony was practically radiating heat and their pajamas were slick with sweat in the space between them. 

She frowned. It wasn’t the usual ‘I’ve been stuck to my partner for a long time’ kind of sweat, the sheets were soaked too. Maybe she’d spilled her water but- no, it was just Tony’s back that was wet. And he’d mentioned being hot during the night. 

Concerned Pepper was just about to reach over to feel the man’s forehead, but as she did so she glanced to his bedside table and saw the clock. 

Eight o’ three.

_ Shit!  _

Pepper had thought she’d woken before her alarm, not after it. Fuck, she must have been too tired after Tony interrupting her sleep but- damnit why hadn’t JARVIS woken them?! 

She jumped out of bed and threw her robe on, before reaching over to shake Tony's arm. “Babe- baby. Tony, baby, wake up.”

“Mmf?” He grumbled into his pillow. It took a few more shakes to get him to fully stir and even then, the usually light sleeper refused to open his eyes. Instead he swatted Pepper’s hand away from him with a disgruntled; “Wha?” 

“You gotta get up, you’ve got a meeting.” Pepper rushedly as she darted around the room, gathering both of their clothes. 

Tony took a sharp inhale through his nose and let out another small groan before he responded. “Downstairs?”

“Yeah.” 

“I can afford five more minutes.” He shrugged and attempted to nuzzle back into the pillow. If their alarm went off it was only 7 and the meeting was at 9. It wasn’t gonna take him two hours to get downstairs. The benefits of living in the tower. Even if he did have to go over his presentation he had plenty of time to- 

“Not when you slept in an hour you can’t.” Pepper instisted, again concern starting to ebb into her mind. Tony had already slept more consecutive hours than he had since the last time he was put into a medically induced coma- and he was  _ still  _ tired? “It’s eight o’clock, Tony.”

“What?” That got Tony to open his eyes at least. He blearily stared at the clock for a second as his eyes focused before he groaned lowly. “Oh fuck.” 

Much like Pepper, Tony moved to jump out of bed- except, he didn’t. He attempted to sit up briefly but his shoulders barely lifted off of the bed before he fell back against the pillow. Rather than blinking away the remnants of sleep, his eyes went wide and alert, like he’d been given an electric shock. Before Pepper could ask what was wrong, he abruptly sat up and projectile vomited over the edge of the bed. 

“Shit- baby you okay?” Pepper squeaked as she dove onto the bed herself, reaching over to steady him. Her heart pounding from the sudden shift of events, she held on to his waist as he shakily attempted to cling to the edge of the mattress; barely able to hold himself upright as three distinct bursts of vomit sprayed out of his mouth. She’d barely had time to react before he was attempting to sit up again, though this time he managed with his fiancé’s assistance. “Easy does it- Jesus, are you okay?” 

“Ugh.” Tony gulped as Pepper helped to keep him steady. He blinked a few times and sniffled, trying to process what he was feeling internally. The neasuea had hit him from seemingly nowhere as Tony seemed just as startled as Pepper was- only he recovered far quicker. He wiped his hand across his mouth and sniffed again, before he stood up and made a dive for the clothes Pepper had piled on his dresser. “Fucking shit.” 

“Uh uh- stay there I’ll get a trash can.” Pepper shook her head as she pushed Tony down by the shoulders back on the bed. She’d mistakenly thought he was running to the bathroom to puke.

“What? No.” Tony shook his head back at her, gently removing her hands from his shoulders and standing up again. This time he managed to swipe his clothes and was in the process of peeling off his shirt before Pepper could intervene again. “I gotta-“ he was interrupted by his stomach, forced to pause to bite down a hiccup. “-gotta get dressed.”

Pepper gawked at him before reeling back her shock. Who was she kidding, of course Tony fucking Stark would insist he was going to a meeting after repainting their bedroom floor with Steve’s pasta bake. “For what? A doctors appointment? Bruce has seen you in your undies plenty of times.”

Tony continued to move, buttoning up his shirt with shaky hands, as he had done many, many times before. Granted, many of those instances had been self induced and before he had a doting fiancé to ensure he didn’t work himself to death- but he’d done it before. This wasn’t an unfamiliar routine. He’d be fine. “I’m not missing this meeting.”

“Tony don’t start-“

“I’m not starting, I’m telling.” Tony cut her off, earning himself another ‘wanna try again?’ look, that made him shiver. Or maybe he was shivering from his sweat soaked shirt clinging to his skin and being blasted by the air con, Pepper couldn’t tell. Either way he backtracked. “I can’t miss this meeting Pep, Nicholson and the board would fucking castrate me.”

“Let them try.” Pepper said lightly, but Tony recognised the dark undertone. She covered it up with a smirk. “How dare they try and take my favourite part of you.”

“Thanks.” Tony squinted at her flashing a fake smile of his own as he continued to attempt to button his shirt. “So my charming wit counts for nothing?”

“It does, but it’s cancelled out by your stubbornness.” Pepper said, pointing back across the room. “Bed. Now.” 

“Oh so I can’t go to a meeting but you can start going all Dom on me?” He chuckled, trying but failing to lighten the mood as Pepper's blue eyes continued to blaze at him. 

“Tony I’m not kidding.”

“Neither am I. I’m g-“ Tony paused. For a moment, a split second, fleeting moment Pepper thought maybe her 40 year old fiancé was about to make a mature decision of his own accord, and go back to fucking bed. But unfortunately not. The pause was through no choice of his own. 

Apparently Tony's body had enough of the abuse and his stomach audibly gurgled before he lurched. His muscles spasmed in a wave running from his core up his spine, making his neck jerk as he gagged. Covering his mouth and making a mad dash across the room, Tony landed the Super Bowl level touchdown with- well his head in the bowl. 

“That sentence better have been ‘I’m going back to bed’.” Pepper called across the room, trying to keep the smirk from her voice. The only response was Tony retching loudly, the guttural sound echoing in the toilet bowl and off the marbled tiles in the bathroom. She sighed gently, throwing a towel over the puddle of puke next to the bed, vowing to come back for that later as she made her way into the en suite. 

Despite having seen him in a similar state many,  _ many  _ times, it never got any less heartbreaking. Even though a tiny part of her found the comedic timing and instant karma his stomach had bestowed amusing, she took no pleasure in seeing him in so much discomfort. “Oh sparky.” 

“God what the fuck did I eat?” Tony cried into the toilet. Rather than accept the sympathy Pepper was trying to give him, Tony did what he did best. And blamed his best friend for the predicament he found himself in. “This is all Steve’s fucking fault! The bastard poisoned me!”

“Sure honey, if blaming Steve makes you feel better.” Pepper sighed as she continued rubbing circles on Tony’s back. She certainly didn’t think it was Steve’s cooking to blame considering she felt fine herself. 

“It always doe-“ Tony couldn’t even finish out his joke before he groaned again, retching as another wave of vomit cascaded out of his mouth. 

They sat in relative silence for a while, Pepper waiting for the gagging to die down before she tried tried to address him again. Once there was a pause, Tony breathing heavily but no longer straining to vomit, she moved to stand up. “You good?”

Still with his head in the bowl Tony didn’t sit up to respond. He stayed kneeled, hunched over the toilet with one hand clutching the bowl and gave her a thumbs up with the other.

“Just dandy.” He panted before spitting. 

Pepper exited the room for a moment, which Tony thought was rather unexpected. She tended to coddle him when he was ill so he was surprised that she’d left before he’d even finished emptying his stomach. He brushed it off figuring she was mopping up the puddle he’d left beside their bed. That was until he heard her talking. 

“Hello, Mr. Nicholson? Hi, it’s Miss. Potts. I was just calling to inform you that-“ He heard her pause, assumedly being interrupted by a very angry chairman. “Yes I am calling to-“

Pepper paused again, making way for the man to speak whilst she waited patiently. Part of Tony wanted to spring up, snatch the phone and cancel her cancellation- but the rest of him, a majority of him, wanted to curl up in bed and sleep. So he gave in and stayed silent. Silent bar from the occasional involuntary groans that wracked through him each time he was forced to heave over the bowl again. 

“Yes well- yes I understand sir. I understand that you came a long way but- sir I-“. Tony could hear him yelling over her now. Naturally it made him furious, and strengthened the urge he had to take over the call but Pepper could handle herself. She’d dealt with him long enough. she could handle the man baby on the other end of the line. And she did so by using her phone voice. “Well despite the circumstances I’m sure he’d be happy to speak with you. One moment please. Oh Tony?” 

Perfectly timed Pepper put the phone on speaker, just as Tony retched loudly. The stream of vomit was loud enough to splash in the bowl and resound in the phones microphone, where a very quiet voice on the other end of the line could be heard saying; ‘ew’. 

“As I said, we’ll have to reschedule. Unless you’d like to come up to our apartment and have the meeting in our en suite? No? Uh huh, so well be in contact. Bye bye now.” Pepper concluded the call cheerily as she wandered back into the bathroom, a smile still present on her face. “All sorted.” 

Tony didn’t respond to her mild gloating, he didn’t even offer her a scolding glance. He just sat huddled between the wall and the toilet, resting his face against the cooling ceramic. He laid there motionless for a while as Pepper continued to rub his back.

“Let’s get you back in bed.” She whispered quietly when she thought he’d fallen back asleep. He hadn’t, but still he didn’t argue, which was a sign he’d truly admitted defeat. At least for now. “See now you’ve gone and ruined a perfectly good shirt just to prove a point.” 

Tony looked down at the sweat and puke stains he’d managed to procure in less than half an hour, grossly impressed with himself. He barely moved as Pepper did all the work for him, slipping the fabric off of him as she pulled him up off the floor. “You’ve proved yours, stop being mean.” 

“Mean would be letting you sit here in- wet clothes. Is this pee or sweat?”

Tony shrugged, unbothered as he slumped against the shower door. “Lucky dip at this point.”

“Well so long as theres no blood I’ll be happy.” 

“I don’t know about that.” Tony murmured as he swallowed, glancing at the toilet, his face plaid and equally unphased. 

Pepper followed his gaze and glanced in the bowl. Sure enough there was red. 

She wasn’t too alarmed, not as alarmed as one may assume. See Tony had a bit of an..assorted history when it came to vomiting and years of self induced evacuations had left his oesophagus scarred and prone to tearing. Any immense pressure in his stomach could lead to hemmoraging but thankfully it was a small amount. Enough to notice but it wasn’t as though he was vomiting pure blood. There were just red streaks swirled Into the yellowish foam Tony was spitting up.

“Oh baby.” Pepper sighed gently. She knew the tears could be painful, like reflux but 100x worse, not that her stubborn fiancé would have mentioned it had she not been likely to notice anyway. “You gonna let me get Bruce now?” 

Tony’s shrugged weakly, looking defeated. “I just want anti nausea meds and some Tylenol.”

Pepper decided not to argue the point that he would still have to have diagnostics to determine the cause- infection or virus- due to his compromised immune system. But she’d let Bruce deal with that, the requests Tony had made were fairly reasonable, and uncharacteristically sensible. Instead she kissed his cheek and started to drag him back to bed. “You got it.” 

But apparently the sensibility was not meant to last long. “I’ll be okay by the afternoon if I can keep some water down, then I can-“

Pepper stopped walking and turned to stare at him. “No.” 

“But-“

“Tony Edward if you don’t get your ass back into bed right now I’ll do more than call Bruce.”

Tony squinted, confusion apparent on his face. “Huh?”

_ “I’ll call Peter.”  _

Tony sat down on the edge of the bed, his eyes wide in disbelief at the threat. His shock gave Pepper the upper hand to push him back into the mattress and tuck the sheets back over him. “You’re a monster.” 

“You picked me, that shouldn’t be surprising. Now lay down, I’ll be back in two minutes.” Pepper said sternly as she placed a sick bowl beside the bed and a bottle of water on the nightstand. “And try to aim for the bucket this time hot shot, I don’t want to have to change the colour scheme again.” 

“It's an ugly rug anyway. It deserved it.” Tony grumbled into the pillow as he fell back into a fitful sleep. 


End file.
